Something's Hogan in the State of Denmark
by Me
Summary: Story from '97 I never got posted, sorry for any grammar errors. The Heroes help in the historical evacuation of Jews from Denmark, but the main story is the determined Fairy Godmother they meet Mrs. Shultz!


Hogan's Heroes - There's Something Hogan In the State of Denmark

The Red Cross newspapers provided little interesting for Robert Hogan, chief POW at Stalag 13, as he perused the sports pages. Clad in a brown bomber jacket, he determined that he hadn't really missed anything in the way of baseball that year - New York and St. Louis had clinched their league titles quite early, and would meet in the World Series, as they had the year before.

James Ivan Kinchloe, a black sergeant, wandered into Hogan's office and handed him a slip of paper. The mustached man admired Hogan for his fairness and willingness to include other races in his operation. "How'd the baseball season turn out?"

"Same as usual, Kinch, Yankee blowout in the American League," the colonel remarked. "You know, I think Ted Williams is in the air corps. While I hope he never gets shot down, it sure would be fun to help him escape." Hogan admired the baseball great for his tenacious desire to perfect his hitting. In a way, Hogan mused, he's just like me, as I expect so much of myself in my covert operations. He's probably the person I'd most love to meet.

Kinch smiled. Hogan, the leader of the sabotage and escape operation at Stalag 13, treated his men as much more than simply soldiers under his command. He tried to be a great friend to them,  
except when obeying orders in a well-run operation was absolutely necessary. The group functioned almost as much like a family as a military unit. The code name Papa Bear was most fitting for the man. "Message from the Underground," Kinch commented as Hogan examined the paper. "They want us to contact an agent named Prince Charming." Silently, Kinch wondered where these agents got some of their names. Did they all use fairy tale names? "We're supposed to meet him at Fritz's, then bring him in to get the mission."

"Okay," Hogan thought, considering that - if anything could be considered routine - this would be a rather simple matter. While LeBeau often went to Fritz's when cooking, he only did so when Schultz accompanied him. And, their fat guard recently earned a 24-hour pass. Schultz had told them before he planned to use that to visit one of his children on that child's birthday.

Still, Hogan though, it could be worth a try. He disliked using the emergency tunnel unless it was absolutely necessary. He wandered out into the main part of their barracks, where American Andrew Carter and Englishman Peter Newkirk were engaged in a card game. "Schultz leave yet"  
he asked. They shook their heads. "Underground needs us to meet a Prince Charming."

Carter chuckled. "Are we supposed to help him find an agent who lost a glass slipper?"

Hogan paid little attention to the joking aspect of the statement. "I don't know what the mission is. You two sneak into the back of Mrs. Schultz's car when she picks him up, I'll convince Schultz to stop for something."

They walked out of the barracks with Hogan. The colonel would normally send only one person, but he preferred having someone along to assist Carter, who was sometimes unreliable on routine tasks like setting timers. Unusual actions, like impersonating Hitler, he handled with great skill, but simple work caused major headaches at times.

Hogan saw the Schultz's large auto, and wondered for a second how they could afford such a luxury in wartime. Then, he recalled that the guard had owned a large toy company before the war. He must have a lot of money saved from that, the American considered. "Hey, Schultz,  
Mrs. Schultz," Hogan spoke cheerfully. "I hear you've got a kid having a birthday today."

Schultz nodded, smiling. His voice was more insistent than usual, however. "That is right,  
and I want no monkey business; I am allowed to leave in two minutes," he commented, as Newkirk and Carter opened the door on the other side of the car, "and I will not have you spoiling this visit!"

"Hey, no problem, I just wanted to tell you about something I heard they have a sale on in Hammelburg." He noticed Carter giving an "okay" signal as Newkirk lightly shut the rear door and the two ducked. "How would your boy like a squirt gun; they were confiscated from Red Cross packages because the Germans were afraid prisoners would use them to escape." He'd arranged for some play guns and flowers to be displayed at the store, which was owned by a member of the Underground.

"Colonel Hogan, please," came the totally nonconfrontational voice they were used to, "we are already fighting a war, I do not want to teach him about guns."

Hogan nodded, having assumed the fellow would refuse that. "Well, Fritz's has a sale on roses, too, why not stop there and get a dozen roses for your wife."

Gretchen smiled. "Thank you, Colonel, but we must be..." she began before hesitating as she noticed the back seat. Hogan sighed, rolling his eyes. She'd also picked up very quickly that a message was being sent through Schultz to someone else another time when she was picking him up for a furlough. "Hans, someone is in the back!"

Schultz quickly opened the door. "Carter, Newkirk, get out of there," he exhorted. "You know better than that!"

Newkirk did so quickly, recognizing that there was no way to use this escape route. He knew they would likely have to use the emergency tunnel in the woods, under a tree trunk. Hogan hated using that unless it was absolutely necessary, but they would likely have to now.

Carter, however, chose this time to put his foot in his mouth, as he often did. Standing up to the guard, he complained that "we're not gonna do anything, we were just gonna get out at the store and come right back, that's no problem."

"It is a problem because you could get us in a lot of trouble if they catch us with you," Schultz insisted. Shaking a finger at Carter and Newkirk, he couldn't think of anything harsh, stammering "you...you..." Finally, he chastised them by thundering "you need to learn to think about other people, you both go stand in the corner!" Carter walked away, dejected, into the barracks.

"Stand in the corner," came the incredulous American colonel.

Schultz turned amicably toward Hogan and explained that "right now I am not pretending to be a soldier. I am handling the only role I am accustomed to, that of a father. When I am pretending to be a soldier, guarding you, I have learned not to be too hard on you and your monkey business." He looked at his watch. "Now, I am officially on leave, and so I am back in my real role, and will not put up with any of that. Now, take your monkey business somewhere else." Schultz got into the car, and the couple drove out of the camp.

Somewhat baffled, Hogan found French prisoner Louis LeBeau, and instructed him to go out the emergency tunnel and contact Prince Charming. The two of them walked into the barracks,  
where they noticed Carter standing in a far corner of the room. "Carter," came the colonel, "get away from that corner."

With a slightly sad countenance, Carter replied: "Well, he has a point. I mean, we could have gotten his wife in a lot of trouble, too."

Newkirk sat on a bunk and remarked "you don't need to stay there, mate, it's not like he's gonna be watching you."

Carter turned meekly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, though...he sounded just like my father would. I guess I sort of reacted the same way."

"That's because that's what he is," Kinch remarked. "You know how he says he doesn't like to take sides in war. He'd rather be back home with his family."

As LeBeau knocked on a top bunk to the left of the door as one entered, the bottom bunk flew up, revealing a stairway which led to an elaborate tunnel system. The Frenchman disliked the Germans more than most of the prisoners, but he always felt a fondness for Schultz. "Sometimes he acts like he doesn't want to be with his family, though. What do you suppose got into him," he wondered as he descended the tunnel. The others simply shrugged.

Gretchen maintained a stony demeanor for several minutes as the couple rode toward Dusseldorf. Hans could tell something was wrong. Finally, she spouted "I do not think it is safe for me to pick you up anymore."

"Come on, sweetheart," came the apologetic man, "they do not understand, they do not know..."

"Most of our nation does not know, that is the problem," fumed the woman. "And they do not care what happens."

Hans pondered whether he could let his wife in on some of the things Hogan had done. Building a tank in the barracks, stealing an airplane from under the Germans' noses, and other incredible antics had convinced Schultz that his wife would trust them, if she only knew. However, he pondered, maybe she does know. Maybe that's why she's so anxious, he considered as he explained their operation as he understood it. "Dear...I am sorry this happened with the prisoners, I know their presence complicates things," Schultz lamented. "I understand you might not trust them, but they have helped maybe hundreds of airmen escape, and they have sabotaged the Nazi war effort a lot."

Speaking lowly and bitterly, his wife asked "and what have they done for the Jews?" Hans didn't know. "You were the one who changed names to hide the fact you still had Jewish employees several years ago, and made sure they could get out right before you were drafted. And what did you say then?"

Hans recalled his words. "The Jews are not soldiers, so they cannot be the enemy like our leaders say. Saving one of them is like saving one thousand soldiers."

Gretchen asked "have your prisoners been a stopping point for hundred of thousands of escaping airmen?" Realizing the impossibility of getting that large an amount out even during the Hundred Years' War, the couple began to laugh, and they entered their home in the jovial mood that would be expected by their children.

LeBeau didn't know who the Underground person was, only the code. He'd told two other people that the tomatoes appeared extra big, and they'd merely agreed with him. A man in a light blue outfit uttered the line: "They are Munich. I prefer Bonn tomatoes, though."

"Hamburg melons are extra juicy," spoke LeBeau.

"The precipitation is amazing there," spoke the owner.

LeBeau extended a hand. "You should see the mountains in Geneva. Hi, I'm Corporal Louis LeBeau," he whispered. "I have come to take you to Papa Bear." The man nodded.

"I am Prince Charming. I have heard many good things about Papa Bear," the fellow spoke excitedly. He hoped the man, unknown to him, would be able to help with some major organizational problems. "Tell me, what is the most people he has helped out of Germany?"

LeBeau told him twenty, but noted that "he hasn't just done that, he's done a lot of sabotage and other work."

The number disappointed Prince Charming somewhat, though he reminded himself very few had pulled off anything close to this. "Has he worked with children?"

"No," came the response as the curious Frenchman purchased some items, then began to leave. "He's great at improvising, though. How many will there be?"

"Wellll, let us talk there. Where are we going?"

"Stalag 13," answered LeBeau, and the other fellow grabbed his arm.

Struggling to determine what to say, he asked "can that be safe...will we...how do you..."

"Don't worry, it is under the ground, we will be well hidden." LeBeau noticed much more concern on this fellow's face than on any other Underground agent he'd met. The man, dressed all in gray, about the same height as LeBeau, loosened up a little when told he'd be underground. I wonder what his problem is, thought the prisoner as they wandered into the woods.

LeBeau and Prince Charming, who revealed his name as Henri, approached a stump in the woods, examining the region cautiously. Henri examined the tree trunk like a curious dog greeting a stranger as LeBeau opened it. Henri slowly descended, and LeBeau followed, closing the lid. Hogan greeted him, shaking his hand.

"Hi, Prince Charming," Hogan ascertained, "I'm Papa Bear, also known as Colonel Robert Hogan, U.S. Army Air Corps."

"This is incredible! I had heard many great things about you, but this..." It's almost like a subway tunnel in here, Henri gathered, gazing at the complex framework which held up the tunnel system. This must have taken them months to complete, he deduced.

Hogan motioned the two forward. "We like to have agents upstairs so they can meet the crew..." began the man.

"Please, I'd like to stay down here if I can," came the nervous reply.

Hogan sensed incredible trepidation in the back of the man's voice, though the fellow tried to hide it well. "Well...we can get you back down fast," Hogan explained.

"Please, I get very scared so close to the German military, even now. You see, I am Jewish." Hogan raised his eyebrows, as LeBeau nodded grimly. The corporal felt guilty, believing he should have suspected that was the reason. It was one thing to be treated as just another prisoner, protected by the Geneva Convention. As an outsider, there could be many problems if he were captured.

Hogan tried to reassure the agent, explaining that the kommandant, Wilhelm Klink, was nice to the black prisoners here. However, LeBeau explained to the American that "they do not simply discriminate against Jewish people. They have tried to deport all of them, to I do not know where. The conditions are very harsh."

"To what, concentration camps," came the man in the bomber jacket. He knew prisoners who provided major problems, along with some people the Gestapo hauled in, wound up at concentration camps.

Henri spoke very solemnly. "It is much worse than that, Colonel. As part of their solution to inferior races, we've learned they have set up death camps, where they are murdering millions of Jewish people." Hogan's jaw dropped. The head POW had suspected that the Nazis did wicked things, but this was far more evil than he'd ever imagined.

"Millions," uttered the commander, recovering his cool. "I knew old noodle brain was insane,  
but to try to wipe out an entire race?" Hogan wished, for once, that they hadn't paid so much attention to airmen. Sure, they aided in their side's war effort by getting them flying again, and they sabotaged quite a bit of German war machinery. They'd even stolen quite a few German secrets on occasion, including technology and battle plans. However, if Germans had been killing members of other races, then he and his men had been in the wrong line of work. Some attention,  
he pondered, should have been given to the civilians, though he didn't know what.

Still, what was past was past. As much as he hated to admit it, there was nothing they could do for those who were gone. His head hanging, he moped around the radio set, asking "are there any we can help in the area?"

"Not here; all those in this nation, except for some in hiding, have been deported for extermination." Henri explained that "there is one rather close nation, though, where they still exist in large numbers. That is where you come in, if you can bring your people down here I will explain."

Hogan nodded slowly. "That's fine. As I was saying, the guard who ignores us if he comes is gone on a 24-hour pass. He wouldn't pay attention to your being here, but I can see you'd be worried even with him here." He turned to the French corporal. "LeBeau, call Kinch, Carter, and Newkirk down here, tell Baker to watch the door." After LeBeau went up the tunnel steps,  
Hogan issued a sincere apology to Henri.

"It is all right, Colonel. Not many people in Germany suspect anything is wrong," emphasized the agent. Once the other prisoners came down, Henri explained further, first telling them of the problems Jewish citizens suffered. "In Denmark, however, the Danes been very insistent about keeping Jews together with the rest of the populace, and they succeeded, until recently."

Kinch listened with astonishment. He'd faced segregation before, but nothing on the level that this fellow was describing. He felt extremely thankful, all of a sudden, to only be treated with prejudice back home. "What happened," he inquired, referring to the Danish problem alluded to by the speaker.

Henri turned to Kinch and explained. "One of our sources indicates that the Germans are ready to deport the Danish en masse, as part of this final solution' of theirs. They will do so in a matter of days."

To Hogan's query as to the timing, LeBeau piped in with "that is the New Year." He grinned,  
a little embarrassed. "Sorry, I guess I never told you, I am Jewish." The Frenchman was pleased that the statement had little impact on the men. They felt little needed said; after all, what difference did one's religion, or even one's race, make? Hogan had long ago made it clear that any differences were to be ignored with his steady inclusion of Kinch and, later, Baker into the group. They might be included much more if they made believable German soldiers. However,  
while nobody would believe they were fighting for "the master race," they still possessed excellent talents, and when German disguises were unneeded, they would go on some missions.

Henri continued. "From the word we've been getting from other locations, the Germans like to attack when they know Jews will all be home, and they do it so there is no time to warn anyone else. That is why we are looking to you, as well as inviting a couple other leaders of our Underground to Denmark for aid." Looking intently into Hogan's eyes, knowing the number would shock the man, he declared "we are talking nothing less than the ferrying across to Sweden of nearly seven thousand people at once."

Carter emitted a shrill wolf whistle. Newkirk gasped. Kinch owned a look of stunned disbelief. LeBeau uttered a small whistle, and Hogan copied. The number astounded them, but they all felt something greater than the shock of the mission. They felt the spirit of teamwork that convinced them it could be done, no matter how odd it sounded. The same sensation that erupted when they set their minds to building a tank in the barracks took hold, as Carter stated simply that "this will take a miracle."

"That's right," Kinch noted, "and our God can pull it off, using us as the agents." He smiled at LeBeau. "No, I'm Christian, but we're still cousins in the faith."

Hogan nodded slowly. As much as he wanted to take all the credit at times, faith played a role in what he did, faith in his men and in the Lord. He often wished he could do it all himself, but often when he lost sight of his goal and tried to overplan or overact, he caused trouble. One memorable instance had occurred recently, when his own big mouth had nearly gotten their incompetent kommandant, Wilhelm Klink, promoted out of Stalag 13. Hogan knew no replacement could ever allow the craziness that went on under his nose without noticing something and ferreting out their operation.

Henri completed Kinch's thought. "We have a couple leaders who will be assisting us, one named the Fairy Godmother,' one named Esther,' you may be introduced to these people when we get there. They may be a couple others, too, I do not know. You will be only part of our group, but a very valuable part."

"What do you need from us," the head POW inquired.

"Some very good fake credentials, for one." Hogan glanced at Kinch, who wondered how he'd look in Denmark. "We must simply get you there, Sergeant, the Danish people will accept you. We need couple officers to assist us and take the heat off the Jews."

"Oh, that's easy for the rest of us," Carter spoke confidently. "Just name the rank and branch of the military, and you've got it."

"We can even be Gestapo if you like," offered the Frenchman.

"That would probably scare them too much." Continuing to speak to the group as a whole, he remarked that "as I'm sure you know, part of it is just that the people see a uniform and they are automatically supposed to listen, so by training they turn the part of their brain off that makes them wonder who you are. So, the branch doesn't matter as much, you don't have to be Gestapo or SS for this mission."

Yes, Hogan thought as Carter bragged about convincing a soldier electricity had a smell, that's the reason we're fighting, to rid the world of such evil teachings. And yet, there had been an even more sinister plot underlying the outward evils of the Nazis. That diabolic plan involved the extinction of an entire group of people. He couldn't believe how people had been duped by these monsters, but he again forced himself to put that behind him. Right now, he needed to concentrate on the present problem.

As Henri went over some of the other needs which might arise, Hogan debated how best to leave. He determined that having his four men outright escape right after morning roll call would be best. He advised them of where to meet him, and told Carter, Newkirk, and LeBeau to "dress as German navy, we'll be inspecting and planting fake mines to stop British ships from aiding the Russians. We got any navy?"

"I'll get the tailors on it right away," Newkirk exclaimed. He considered it amazing that they'd been in operation for almost two years, and this was the first time they'd required German navy uniforms. He would have thought somebody would use those beforehand.

Henri like the idea. "There is a major naval base in Kiel, which is quite close to the Danish border. We will be assembling a few people there. Can you request a lack of bombing runs on that harbor for a couple days."

Carter offered that "we could take a few explosives, too, and blow it up."

Henri vehemently shook his head. "We must keep sabotage completely separate from this work unless absolutely necessary. We must not draw attention to ourselves. This work is far too vital to go on indiscriminantly attacking." Hogan silently agreed.

Sergeant Schultz arrived back in camp just after morning roll call. He'd left his children with his brother, Georg. Wolfgang will enjoy having his cousins there for a few days, he considered.

After reporting to Klink, he entered the Heroes' barracks, unsure of what he might find. He felt a little stunned that they were all present and in their normal clothing.

"Hey, Schultz," came Hogan's voice, "you're back early. We were hoping you'd come back after they left."

"What...After who left..." stammered the guard.

Carter remarked that "I guess now we'll have to say that we escaped last night."

As LeBeau commented "oui, and bribed the guards to report us here this morning," Schultz's eyes grew as big as saucers.

"Wait a minute, what are you..." Hogan quickly ushered Schultz into his office before the guard could utter another word.

"Okay," Hogan remarked once they were in the room, "we need an excuse to be gone several days." He told him "Kinch, Carter, Newkirk, and LeBeau escaped last night."

The guard gawked at Hogan. "B-b-but...they were...just here." Pointing at the ground, he asked himself if he dared peek outside. He decided to, and slowly opened the door to Hogan's office. Afraid of what he might see, he slowly glanced into the outer barracks, and saw nobody. He turned meekly toward Hogan, considering that, for once, he saw nothing and wanted to see something. Am I going crazy, he asked himself.

"You saw them this morning, and you're going to follow them, and take me with you"  
Hogan began.

"Colonel Hogan, I swear, I saw nothing..."

"...and you're going to hunt them down. Only it'll take a few days. We're going up north, to Kiel," Hogan continued, not caring whether Schultz got the whole story straight. He would be with him, as always, informing Klink of the escape. Hogan orchestrated every escape, because they were supposed to be re-captured. Keeping Klink's perfect record of no escapes intact was one of the keys to keeping the bumbling kommandant in charge. "When we go and tell Klink what you saw, you go toward the motor pool and get a big truck, the biggest you can. I'll need to come back here and get dressed..."

"Dressed for what? Wait a minute, do not tell me," Schultz exclaimed worriedly, "I want to know nothing about what I am doing." The comment made Hogan laugh, as the sergeant inquired "can I come with you? My wife suddenly got called up that way to visit an elderly cousin who is very ill." Then again, he thought, maybe I shouldn't want to, she was quite upset when I could have been connected with them the other times.

Schultz's wife is going up there? Can she be...no, impossible, Hogan thought. Or, was it? He decided it wouldn't hurt to have Schultz there, and told him to come along for the ride.

Colonel Hogan walked into the kommandant's office with Schultz, whom he requested hold his arm to make it look as though Schultz was dragging him in. He hoped the confused look on the guard's face wouldn't make this seem too unreal. Schultz stood at attention and saluted. "Sergeant Hans Schultz reporting, Herr Kommandant!"

"Reporting for what," Klink inquired, holding out his hands, "you already came and reported in, and I put you back on active duty."

"Well, you see, I had to make sure the prisoners were all there," Schultz explained. "And, I beg to report...well..."

"Yes, go ahead," Klink insisted.

Hogan, seeing Schultz struggle, decided he had to rescue hm. "You and your perfect record,  
Kommandant, I can't believe it!"

"What did I do?"

"We'd have had a thousand escapes by now if it weren't for Schultz," Hogan insisted, "and then the moment we think your guard's down, Schultz comes back a couple hours early to check on us!"

"I did not ask you, Hogan. Schultz, did you come back to check on the men?"

"No...I mean yes, Herr Kommandant, and I beg to report, there has been...well, four men were here, then..." he began, not sure how to explain what transpired.

Hogan again rescued the man. "Kinch, Carter, Newkirk, and LeBeau left last night,  
Kommandant, they had enough candy to bribe the guards to count them here this morning."

"That is right," Schultz agreed readily, "and I came back to get my gun and go after them"  
"He saw them near Dusseldorf..."

"I did, and I saw them near my home, too..."

"And of course, I'll go along so Schultz doesn't get trigger happy."

"In case I..." Schultz began, then staring at Hogan and ending the lightning-quick dialogue,  
which went almost too fast for Klink to follow.

"Only under extreme pressure," the prisoner remarked, knowing that Schultz would deny it. Not only is the man not trigger happy, Hogan contemplated, he can't remember his gun at times.

The kommandant was torn. In case the prisoners were around the camp, he should alert the guards. However, they'd missed the escape as it was, and if he sounded the alarm now, and they were far gone, it would do little good. Schultz and Hogan had recaptured his men before, they could do it again.

Therefore, he relented. "Very well, take the truck, I will order sentries to inspect the area around here just in case, but if you saw them, I will take your word for it. Report back tonight if you can, if not, I will want a status report about this time each day until you find them!" Klink fretted. They'd nearly had successful escapes before, but as the Allies march through Italy and rumors about possible Allied invasions - many spread by Hogan - intensified, he sensed that his nation might not win after all. If they had to lose, he needed something, such as his perfect record, to show for it.

As Schultz drove Hogan - now in an Admiral's uniform - into Hammelburg, they stopped at several stores. One of those stops would allow the other four men to enter the vehicle, but Hogan wouldn't let Schultz know which one. "Now, Schultz," Hogan instructed, "take us to Kiel."

Nervously, the fat guard got out of the car and whined "Colonel Hogan, I said I would take you to get prisoners, now if you are going to escape..."

"We're not going to escape," Hogan reassured the man. "We just have to help a few thousand people out." As the guard was about to speak, the colonel added "they'll all be civilians this time." Suddenly, the guard recognized that they might be headed to the same place his wife would be.

Still a little apprehensive, the guard got out and got into the back. "Still, one of your men had better drive." Newkirk got into the front to replace him.

It was near supper time when the van stopped at the Black Forest Inn in Kiel. The city, like many in Germany, showed the cars of numerous Allied bombs. Hogan, as Admiral Rudolf Strauss, would rent three rooms, for six men, for several nights. Kinch would stay with him as Strauss's "personal servant," which would explain the man's lack of a uniform; the sergeant wore a simple, all-black outfit. Carter and LeBeau shared a room, as did Newkirk and Schultz. Hogan's explanation for the guard was that he was Strauss's brother-in-law, hunting escaped prisoners from Stalag 13, and that Strauss was letting him stay with him because he suspected the prisoners would be in the area.

The operator, as Hogan understood, was an Underground agent. Hogan and Kinch spoke with him briefly about their mission, and discussed how to accomplish this. The agent informed him that "a woman, called the Fairy Godmother,' has come to assist, and brought a number of children, ostensibly from orphanages in her region and to be adopted by people in this city, but really Jews with no parents who have been hiding in other homes in her area. She and another will be organizing some of the escapes, as you will. Much will be done by the Danish people themselves."

The notion greatly impressed Kinch. "I've always thought we had a great team," he asserted,  
"but now we've been invited to our first All-Star Games."

The agent didn't understand the baseball analogy, but inferred that the American meant there was a collection of many agents there. "Actually, you five, Prince Charming, whom you met, and these other two are the only ones from Germany, and we dared not pull anyone out from other nations. Denmark, as we hope you will see, hides and helps their own very well." Hogan nodded,  
and asked Kinch to bring their last bag in from the car; it was a heavy, bulky load contained equipment for making phoney ID tags.

As Hogan left the elevator and walked toward his room, with Kinch trailing, he though he felt a pair of cold, angry eyes directed at him. He was unsure whether to turn around or not, fearing that if a Gestapo agent thought they recognized him, seeing his face could provide a positive identification. Since he bore no false facial hair, being so far away from his base of operation,  
he'd felt it unnecessary.

However, they'd gotten out of numerous scrapes before when agents had identified them. He felt confident they could escape any such mess now or in the future. True, the chances of getting him to a British POW camp were much slimmer, but there were other ways, such as making an agent appear to be a traitor. Hence, he turned around slowly and amicably...

...and looked straight into the irate face of Gretchen Schultz.

Chapter Two

Hogan wasn't sure what to do first, except order Kinch to cart the luggage into their room. He determined that a warm greeting might not be the appropriate gesture in this awkward situation. Instead, a startled "Mrs. Schultz, what are you doing here" arose from his mouth.

Lowly, the woman stated "perhaps I should ask you the same question! And why did you drag my husband here!"

Hogan ushered Gretchen into his room. Newkirk stood inside with Kinch and reported "no bugs in here" before noticing Gretchen. "Oh, we've got company." Hogan nodded and shut the door, but never got a chance to give his phony name and purpose.

Having grasped that there were no listening devices, Gretchen pointed an accusing finger at Hogan. "First you try to use him as a messenger, to our own city no less, then I learn you've endangered him by making him guard you while you do Heaven only knows what against the Nazis, then you drag him up here while we're conducting the most important mission of the war!"

Hogan raised his eyebrows. We? "So...you're helping get the Danish Jews out?"

"Along with a number of Jewish children I picked up along the way, yes," stated the determined lady.

Newkirk couldn't help but asking "which one are you, Esther or the Fairy Godmother?"

Gretchen flailed her arms as she pranced around the room. "The Fairy Godmother, of course. Why not, I was already the Tooth Fairy, Kris Kringle, and many other things to our own five children! Hans may have started by using money from his company to grant the wish of freedom to his Jewish employees just before he joined the Luftwaffe, but since then it has been me practically knitting new garments and ID tags out of straw, and fashioning carriages out of pumpkins whenever they came to me desperate to flee!" She turned to face Hogan. "You have it easy! When you take men in, if you fail they will only get sent back to prison. I assist men,  
women, and children, knowing if I failed, they would be tortured and killed in some death camp or shot on sight!" The head POW hung his head in shame as she continued, glaring at him. "And while I do all that, I could have my house raided and be discovered because my husband happened to be guarding a bunch of...wild men who are totally unconnected with what I do."

Hogan looked cheerlessly at her, putting his right arm on Gretchen's shoulder. As she fumed at him, he admitted "I wish I could say I understand how you feel, I know I probably can't." The admission barely soothed the woman. He sighed. "We didn't even know about the Jews until yesterday..."

"And now the order has been handed down. Unless we stop them, in just over twenty-four hours, the Germans will move in and send thousands of people to their deaths," exclaimed the woman. "Can you at least try to understand that!"

"Look, we're on the same side here, that's what we're here to do, too." The woman remarked that Hans told her that when she spotted him in the lobby. She and the inn's owner had been ushering the orphans into one room when she saw her husband. "Then what are you upset about?"

Gretchen turned and walked toward the door. "Oh, never mind," came the frustrated response. She began to wonder why she had even come, much less expected the fellow to comprehend.

Hogan, now somewhat agitated but trying hard not to show it, spouted "never mind? You come in and yell at me, then tell me never mind'?" He resisted the urge to put his arms around her, instead sidling up to her right next to the door and murmuring "look, I know there might be something I'm not getting here, but you came to help me understand something. Now, I don't quite know what, and maybe I won't even after you tell me. But if you just walk away, you can be sure I'll never fathom it." He turned her toward him. "And, isn't a lack of understanding what we've both been fighting against for years?"

Gretchen grumbled as Hogan put his hands in his pockets. He truly wished to assist her if he could, since they were to be teammates in this operation. In a way, she considered, perhaps she herself couldn't totally untangle her thoughts. However, with the hint of a sniffle, she began. "I guess...it is not just that you did not know of the Jews," the woman began, seemingly drifting into stream of consciousness speaking.

"What, then?"

She meandered toward the center of the room, with Hogan trailing from a distance. Abruptly,  
she explained that "when Hans first went into the Luftwaffe, and did so poorly in his physical, I was elated. He got sent to Stalag 13, and it seemed he could help a fair amount with the Jews. That is why, after a while, he decided he could safely ignore the little things you did. You weren't doing huge things like you would starting in 1942.

"When I came that summer day in 42 to pick Hans up, though, and learned a message was being sent through him, I did not know what to think. I only knew I could not allow him to be caught, because then it could come back on me and my children. We did a fine bit of acting there,  
and if he had not torn up his furlough papers I would have. Yes, he came home then, but we had to play at being quite distant at times, so if he got implicated with your work you and others could tell the Gestapo there were troubles between him and me, so they'd be less likely to think me involved, and they couldn't come after me or, worse, our children." Tearily, she inquired testily "do you have any idea how it's broken that man's heart to have to pretend to go after the young frauleins in town, or to stay in camp last Christmas and pretend my cooking turned him away?"

The prisoners hung their heads in shame. They'd wondered why Schultz would seem happily married, often talking about his wife and five kids, then abruptly go after ladies just like they, who were single and party animals at times. Now they knew; he'd been protecting her, perhaps the times he pretended the most were when she had Jewish people in her home.

"He does not want to be stuck with you and force us to give up on him; all he wants is to live a peaceful life at Stalag 13 and come home in a couple years, and be able to let me help with the Jews with no fear."

Breaking the intense silence which invaded the room, Hogan asked "so what do you want from us?" Hogan sensed where the woman was coming from, but thought merely of their operation,  
not of the family. Besides, it sounded like they were still happily together on the inside. He held out a hand. "Look, whether you like it or not, we've got a great operation, and your husband is one of the keys, if not the key ingredient. There's no way another guard ignores us like Schultz. We could never function without him."

Kinch and Newkirk listened, spellbound by the discussion and impressed at Gretchen's courage in accomplishing her feats. The black man also prayed while standing there, as he was wont to do during those many quiet hours in the radio room or elsewhere, waiting for them to return. He asked the Lord to help them agree enough to work together. The lady ranted to their commander that "every time he ignores something, that is one more chance you could get caught,  
and the Gestapo could think he was partly to blame. He could even get caught with you, like here. Then, it would still fall back on us, and the Jews which are in hiding could pay for it."

"So what do you want us to do," cried the colonel, "shut down our operation..."

"No!" Gretchen interrupted as she took Hogan's hands. "I know you have been doing great things. Though I do not know the specifics, Hans told me last night some of the things you have done may have shortened the war by years. I want you to think of us, though."

Hogan pleaded with her. "Then what? Please, I'd like to be able to work with you tonight,  
tomorrow, and in the future, but I need some help here."

"Hans says you are the one with the ideas," came the rebuke. Hogan didn't know if Schultz's comment about thinking of his wife "during bayonet practice" had been part of his play at disparaging her, but the way she'd pierced his heart with her admonitions, he determined that could have been a truism.

Kinch and Newkirk recalled the tongue-lashing another Underground agent had given Hogan regarding his sabotage work, which had led to the townsfolk being accused. Kinch knew that,  
inwardly, their leader had to feel awfully bad, though he put up a good front. After a couple seconds of awkward silence, Newkirk decided to offer "maybe if we don't use Schultz as a courier anymore." Gretchen accepted that as a start.

Hogan sighed. He wished he had answers for her. Impacting Underground leaders who knew of it was one thing. He struggled with the notion that their actions could have put others at risk who didn't even know of the operation. He'd been so focused, like Ted Williams eyeing a pitch so intently he could see the seams on the baseball as it approached, he'd sometimes lost sight of anyone else. Perhaps, he concluded, he'd been thinking too narrowly, concentrating on one big massive network known as the Underground, without considering the people in it, and without contemplating the many families they impacted from day to day.

Still, no easy solutions existed - when did they in wartime? "Look," offered the humbled officer, "I wish I could tell you that I knew we'd never get captured, never be able to spill any secrets..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Gretchen accepted the olive branch, and concurred. "None of us wants to give out information, but I imagine you know what the Gestapo can do." Hogan nodded slowly.

Finally, after glancing at his watch, Kinch intervened. "Hey," came the calm, low sound of the man who always seemed able to keep his cool, "I realize you've got your differences, but we're both here to do the same job, rescue Jews, right?" Hogan was ready to agree and end this discussion, but he wished to ensure Gretchen felt the same way, so their "all-star team" could stick together. "We can iron things out later. We've got a few ideas for getting them out, first we need to get them to safe places."

After a moment, Gretchen conceded that work should begin. Hogan offered a final "thanks for helping me understand...a little better." He'd begun to feel guilty about nearly getting Schultz sent to the Russian front, such as when Newkirk pretended to go to the dentist and got Schultz extremely drunk. He could tell from the Englishman's depressed demeanor that similar thoughts haunted him. Gretchen accepted his thanks, and they began to plan.

The group worked long into the night on various projects. That morning, as Gretchen and Esther watched the numerous children, Hogan and LeBeau, using their fake identities, drove into Denmark before dawn in one of several cars they'd purchased with fake money. Their objectives were to arrange for the use of numerous fishing boats in several days' time and to scout out a path for Gretchen to take the children she transported. The Heroes could be on board one of those ships to ensure the Jews' safe passage, though ostensibly, they would be mining the waters. Kinch, meanwhile, elicited Carter's help in creating fake passports, birth certificates, and adoption papers for the children Gretchen transported, feeling this would add to the authenticity of her phony endeavor. Newkirk, Prince Charming, and Esther snuck into the Danish towns wherein Jews were known to live and ensured that they knew to flee and where.

When Schultz awakened, he instantly phoned Stalag 13, telling Klink of their continuing search "somewhere in the Black Forest." Considering the area's size, he knew that would cover a lot of ground. When Klink pressed him on details, Schultz said "it is hard, Herr Kommandant, because we are after four men." Klink finally relented, and Schultz hung up to go assist his wife.

He noticed Carter making funny noises and telling jokes to get the children to smile for his camera. "He did not check for film," Gretchen remarked jovially, "but I had put some in."

"Good." He sat down beside her on one of the beds. "I am sorry Colonel Hogan came. Newkirk told me you were quite upset."

His wife sighed. "Hans, you were right, what you said about war belonging to soldiers. I do not think I understood the mentality until last night." A two-year-old ran and jumped onto Gretchen's lap.

"He really is a nice man." Hans informed her as she cuddled the toddler that "I asked him if I could go with them if they ever escaped once." When asked what the response had been, Hans remarked that "Colonel Hogan said if they had the time, they would let me."

That made Gretchen feel good. At least, she thought, then the Gestapo could not touch her husband. Of course, there still was the possibility of capture. And, if just one man were captured,  
she knew they could spill a lot of information under duress. The concept made her shudder.

Hans suggested that they pray together regarding the situation, and they did. Carter remained preoccupied with the children, as some of them insisted on appearing in pictures together or making funny faces. "Kinch is really burning the midnight oil today, huh," Carter commented as he snapped a picture. Noticing the couple praying, he said "oh, sorry" and wandered into the restroom to develop the film, placing a "do not disturb" sign on the door.

Schultz wandered over to Kinch's room across the hall after their prayers. "Anything I can help you with?" Kinch responded that he needed someone who knew children to estimate ages for the papers. As the guard sat and began to work, his skill at creating phony papers excited the American.

"You must have done that before," Kinch remarked.

"I knew before I was drafted that there would be lots of problems for Jews. We stockpiled false papers just in case," he explained, "because I gave money to my Jewish employees to get their families out, only some of them refused. The government kept taking Jewish businesses, and so most were too poor to get away on their own after Krystalnacht."

Kinch finally looked up from his work. "What was that?"

Inching a little closer to the American, Schultz spoke quite lowly. "One night in November of 1938, thousands of Jewish stores were destroyed and many Jews were arrested. I still remember calling and telling my wife we were staying open all night, saying it was for the Christmas rush,  
but really to keep them away from their homes and possible trouble; many called their families and they came to work that night, too.

"I changed all my employees' names and paid for them to get away; some who wouldn't sent their children away, to live in England or America till after the war. Those who didn't leave, I kept names of, and we got them all false papers and other items the night before I went into the military." Kinch smiled, elated to know of such friendship. The guard knew some "monkey business" was going on when the Nazis banned Jewish emigration and insisted Jews be identified as such on their name tags. "Sergeant Kinchloe, one does not speak of how a group is to be hated, then do things to protect them from that hatred. Even I knew that made no sense."

The manner in which the guard spoke stunned his associate. As Schultz continued his tasks,  
typing and printing names and such as well as inventing ages, Kinch wondered why he hadn't told them before. As Kinch continued to work, considering the solemn pallor cast over their activity by the revelations, he found himself wondering if he'd had the totally wrong impression of the fellow. Thinking out loud, he spoke. "I guess you helped a lot come here before, huh; you know a lot about the operations in Denmark?"

Schultz shook his head. "All I know about Denmark is that excellent pastries come from there. Mm-mmm!" He smacked his lips, and immediately Kinch felt at ease. Laughing at the change in tone, he realized that while some parts were kept from them, the old Schultz he knew and loved still comprised a large part of the man.

Colonel Hogan and Corporal LeBeau considered their new uniforms as they showed the sentry their papers and passed into Denmark. Red in morning, Hogan thought as he gazed at the faint beginnings of the sunrise. It better not be that way tomorrow. The two of them had done so much work together, the leader considered, and yet he'd never thought about LeBeau's religion.  
race, or anything. He knew Kinch was a Christian only because his radio man, when not working with them, regularly attended the camp's chapel, and sometimes counseled other prisoners.

They stepped up to a fisherman examining his boat on a pier a short time later. "How much for the bluegill," he inquired.

"I am a bass fisherman," answered the intrigued fellow as he untangled some lures.

"The perch on the North Sea are excellent," completed the code. Once Hogan spoke those words, he and LeBeau were led into a storage area, where he introduced himself as Papa Bear. "We've come to organize an escape of Jews."

The fisherman nodded. "Yes, we just heard this morning that they will come and arrest the Jews at midnight tonight."

"Pretty hefty operation. How many can you get on your boat?" As expected, the number was much lower than the thousands that would need to evacuate. "We need the names of any contacts who might be able to help - tankers, fishing vessels, rowboats if you can."

"That will be the easy part. Have you ever been here to Denmark before?"

Hogan responded that "we're stationed at a POW camp pretty far south."

"Oui, we have been to Paris, but never up here," LeBeau proclaimed.

"We have a history of great tolerance," the fisher explained. "Up until yesterday, we experienced almost no problems, and the Jews were even schooled with non-Jews. Our people have been captives, but we have refused to accept that or act like it."

Looking excited, LeBeau exclaimed "boy, that sounds just like us."

"So you're saying we'll have plenty," Hogan inquired. When told this was the case, he explained their plan. "I'm acting as an Admiral Strauss, here to plant mines and do other work. We'll need to get the fishers organized for a pullout tomorrow, continuing probably throughout next week."

"That has already begun to some extent, but you are certainly welcome to help." And with that, the evacuation work began.

Near midday, Hogan and LeBeau trekked back, picking Newkirk and his group up in Copenhagen. "This is incredible, Colonel," the Englishman averred, "we could have all come as civilians and I would have gotten fewer strange looks than I did this morning."

"Easy now, once the Gestapo comes we'll be thankful for these," Hogan reminded him,  
pointing to his uniform.

Henri reported that "there are already Jewish parents who have pulled their children out of school, so they can go into hiding. We have a few others who will pick their children up along the way, and several churches, businesses, and so on which will house them."

Esther, whose name Hogan figured would never be known to him, provided details on hiding places. "We have even had normal citizens promise to watch Jewish businesses and homes while they are gone," came the amazed covert operator. If only work in Germany were a tenth this easy, she told herself.

"Tell them we'll work on that later, right now we just need to get them out," Hogan declared emphatically. "We'll regroup and distribute some phony papers and other items. I've got a great man for that," Hogan remarked.

Once the group arrived at their designated stop in southern Denmark, Gretchen explained her double excuse. "The part about the orphanage is my reason when I'm up here," she told the colonel, "but back home, and here if need be, people will be informed about a relative who is gravely ill. I am having your sergeant Kinch produce phony hospital records for a hospital in Kiel." She didn't bother asking if it was all right, she simply did it, Hogan considered. The notion of not being totally in charge didn't gnaw at him like it had, but it still bothered him a little.

Their next step, as Hogan had outlined it, was to speak to a group of Jewish leaders. Hogan,  
Kinch, Carter, LeBeau, Gretchen, and Esther attended this meeting, with Schultz, Newkirk, and Henri moving the children whom Gretchen had brought to hiding places. The group spoke with the rabbi in his office. In explaining the plan, the Frenchman suggested that all the Jews come to one synagogue if it could be done, so Colonel Hogan could speak to them all.

"I do not know what your leader is planning," answered the rabbi, "and perhaps that would work. I am not certain how the Germans operate, whether they would catch on that we know. However, I believe your sudden appearance will be too scary, in those uniforms."

Carter rested his head on a hand. "Gee, I never thought of our uniforms as scary. I mean,  
when I was growing up you had your monsters, your ghosts, there were a lot scarier things than that I could dress as."

Hogan gently shushed Carter and asked "what should we do?"

"We are good at organizing," explained the rabbi. "We can get a hundred or so into the Jewish community center, and you can do what you wish then." Hogan agreed to the move, as his speech would occur shortly after noon, before the German forces could begin to form.

However, when Hogan got there, instead of getting up and delivering an incredible speech to exhort the Jewish people to leave, as he had planned, Gretchen and Esther overruled him. Esther especially proved convincing, as her good looks caused the other Heroes to quickly agree with her. As the group debated who would get up to speak, Kinch was suddenly introduced by the rabbi who'd called the meeting. The several hundred who attended, seeing the black, non-uniformed man, would know that the people speaking to them were not German collaborators,  
interested in a "master race."

Kinch licked his lips. "I'm not very good with speeches," he told the throng. "I do most of my best work praying. However, I'm reminded of where Moses is getting ready to lead the people across the Red Sea. The Egyptians were hot on their tails. Any hesitation would mean they were lost. Let me present your Moses - not just us, but whatever we point to, that will be a way across to safety." With that, he sat down, and Hogan quickly stood, assuming his customary role of leadership. Kinch pulled out phony documents, ready to distribute them.

Hogan began abruptly with "all right, you've all heard that the Nazis are coming. Now, listen carefully, here's how we're going to get you out." Gretchen groaned and rolled her eyes. He's trying to act like a military commander again, she thought. Hogan noticed the extreme reaction and turned to her. "What?"

Noticing the interchange, the rabbi asked "are the two of you married?"

"No, we just argue like it," quipped the colonel. The crowd laughed nervously.

As Kinch and Carter began to move through the crowd, handing out phony papers, onto which photos could be attached, according to Hogan's plan, Gretchen waved the head POW off,  
deciding maybe she should give him a chance. "All right, let us hear your plan first," she stated.

Hogan sighed. He wished he could figure out her complaint. Then again, he and his men had often stated women were impossible to grasp. "All right, now the first thing we've learned in our operations is, the Gestapo will look for papers. What my men are handing out to the two hundred or so of you are phony identity papers. You can give them to your friends, and we'll be around to get your pictures at several designated stopping points. One of my men has found a good number of photographers who can take them and quickly affix them to the papers." The group looked a little puzzled.

One woman asked "where should we go, when we do not know who will turn us in?" Another suggested going into the woods.

"The woods are no good, they'll have trained dogs," Hogan explained. "Really, from the sounds of it, you should be safe, your neighbors are going to be taking care of all your homes and everything." Esther and LeBeau rose to give more detailed instructions, and Gretchen motioned the colonel over to one corner of the room.

"What are you doing," Gretchen asked impulsively. "They cannot be sure of that."

Hogan reassured her by commenting that "we can, don't worry, we checked it out."

Gretchen couldn't comprehend Hogan's attitude. "First you try to cover the whole field, now you just act like your position is the only one on the diamond." She hoped she was using the analogy correctly from what her husband told her about American sports.

"Tell me what my position should be, and I'll play there," retorted the American.

Mrs. Schultz explained that "you are not simply dealing with airmen who can just use their good judgement to choose whether or not to hide somewhere," Gretchen explained. "You are dealing with men, women, and children - sometimes very small - who do not have the slightest idea how to hide, and need a lot more reassurance about it." She admitted that "in a way, I feel out of my level, too, because the Jews who come through my station have generally been through a station or two before mine. But I still try to understand each of them on a human level, and how to best assist them, so they are not on their own."

Hogan agreed to some extent. Perhaps he was cutting corners where he could because of the near impossibility of getting over six thousand out at once. Still, he explicated, "that also means I can't do what you seem to be suggesting, which is to know everyone on a first name basis."

Gretchen assured him she didn't expect that. "We are a team, though, and Hans tells me a good fielder is supposed to back up another one in case the ball gets past him, right?" Yes, that was true. "You cannot just hand the personal parts to Esther, Hans, and myself and then expect to do the planning all by yourself. We have experience in planning, first of all, but more importantly, you should be seeing these aren't just soldiers. You haven't taken any time to help with the children we've brought, for instance."

Hogan acknowledged he may have made mistakes so far. "Look, I'll admit it's easier for me to just let the leaders of the Jewish community be the ones to help the younger ones, the ones who can't do anything themselves. Maybe I shouldn't be expecting them to be able to hide and escape like seasoned airmen." Kinch and Carter were passing out maps as LeBeau revealed the points at which the Jews would escape to Sweden. "However, it's awfully hard for me to know how else to do it; even the Underground people we've helped escape do it like that. Remember, you husband just pretends to be a soldier. I've grown up in the army, though, I am a soldier, and that's how I operate."

Shaking her head vigorously, Gretchen protested that "the minute you set foot into our Underground, the minute you assisted someone who was not a soldier, you left that realm. And when you entered the realm of us civilians, you took on the responsibility to look at them as people, and work more closely with them than you would airmen, knowing they don't have the training. You may see only the great agents, the ones who can do anything like seasoned soldiers,  
who can pull off bombings with their eyes closed, but what you don't realize is most of us have no training, most of us cannot hope to do glorious things. Most of the ones you don't see are like me, we have few contacts to help us, and the ones we aid just scrounge and scavenge for any little tidbit that will keep them safe. We cannot grasp big plans. We labor constantly on a wing and a prayer, much more than any of you in the military will ever need to."

Hogan nodded forlornly, part of him wondering if the woman was going to make him stand in the corner as Schultz had ordered Carter; with her age and looks, she did remind him a lot of his mother when he was little.

He wasn't sure about her last point; he'd had to improvise pretty much on occasion, but he'd had resources available, even if those were only his men. Hogan knew he'd never been alone,  
without his men, without any phony uniforms, without something to keep him afloat. Sure, he'd trained for that in preparation for what he might face if shot down in hostile territory. Training for it wasn't living it, though. It would be different if someone showed up on your doorstep and you were surrounded by possibly hostile neighbors, had no extra rations, and so on. Indeed, at times when they'd thought such a thing might occur, they hadn't planned for continuing to operate. They'd pondered closing up and going back to London. People like Gretchen didn't have that option, though, and when she mentioned her husband paying for tickets to get Jews out of Germany, he wondered just how much money he had left from his lucrative toy company.

He also considered how he'd treated agents. He presumed they were as willing to die for their country, and to be as able to handle their missions with great courage and skill, as he and his men were. Perhaps, he thought, that was a mistake. Indeed, even one of the military ones had insisted that Hogan free him when the American assumed that the man would willingly go to the firing squad; it was the time Klink acted as attorney for the fellow. And, when he had cared deeply about their fates, it always seemed to be the good-looking women about whom he cared most.  
Still, he uttered, "I just don't know if I'm capable. I mean, how do I..."

"Admitting you cannot is often the hardest part. It is like when you accept Christ, you must do it as a little child, knowing you cannot be perfect, and you need His forgiveness and His sacrifice to cleanse you of your sins. That is why prayer and the Lord are so important to me, it is the only way I could cope." Trying to develop a solution, she suggested "why don't you go into the Jewish community with me, and we will guide some of these people to their safe houses, and scout the area ourselves." Gretchen smiled. "Hans hasn't told me how, but I imagine with your work, you've developed some ingenious hiding places."

"It would be hard in a day, but we can try."

"We have less than that, we have ten hours." She cosidered that she, too, needed to put her trust in this man, just as Hogan did in her. The Lord had brought him there for a reason. She added that "you have likely done great things before, though. I know you can do it again."

The group of nine visited many different Jewish families for the next six hours. LeBeau felt extremely thankful for his position as a prisoner. He found himself wondering, as he ensured several Jews possessed sufficient hiding places for that evening, what Hogan would do with only a few Jews to assist in escaping. Perhaps he would put them in German uniforms, he considered.

They split their duties into seven sectors, with Carter and Newkirk taking one, Gretchen and Hogan patrolling one, and the others taking theirs individually. They couldn't each see a thousand Jews, but they did try to comfort them and ensure that the majority understood the plans, while getting them to assist the others. The Danish people themselves were more often contacted, as they would be the ones to get the Jews out, but at Gretchen's insistence, they visited the ones to do the escaping, as well.

Hogan quickly grew impressed with Gretchen's skill and understanding of the group's plight. "You must have done this a lot," came the admiring comment.

She whispered as they drove along a country road to a farmhouse. "We have moved a few hundred or so since about two years ago, when the mass deportations started. We'd helped out a couple hundred more before that, counting the ones Hans had to pay air fare for to get them and families out, or at least to get their children out." The woman suggested that they stop, and a group of ten hiding in a barn welcomed them. Before Hogan could speak, Gretchen reported that "they'll come looking in places like this, you need to get out unless you can hide somewhere."

"What about in the rafters," Hogan suggested, "we don't have much time, but we could fix the hay so it looks like it flat against a wall there." He pointed to an area, and Gretchen nodded. Realizing he was supposed to say something else, he decided to ask if they needed help.

"The animals are silent here now," an elderly Jewish fellow said, "but if they make a lot of noise, will that not draw attention? Can you not get us out from here in the night?"

Gretchen doubted it. "Barns are okay for the short term, though not good for the long, I prefer places with escape routes." She sounds like she could work in our operation, Hogan surmised. "The smell will make the SS think for now that their dogs only smell the animals."

"We can try to get you out," Hogan admitted, "but we need vehicles." One of the Jews suggested a meat packing plant truck, and Hogan promised to ask among the farms int he area.

Gretchen told him upon leaving that "that was good, and we can inquire into that while looking into other things." As Gretchen explained how she scrounged for food and transport for those in her care, Hogan began to consider what life might be like for those who put themselves in this situation. They really didn't have the resources that Hogan envisioned; he always pictured them as having lots of tools from which to draw. Maybe, he thought, if we ever find a leak in our own escape route, I'll try to travel it myself, so I can get a better understanding while at the same time ferreting out where the broken link is.

As they visited several more hiding places, Hogan inquired "do you involve your children?"

"When I can, and when it will not endanger them if someone asks. I try to keep them distant,  
but they insist on helping." She looked at him. "You have never had children, have you?"

"No, but I probably feel like a father with my men, always willing to lay down my life to spare them, like a good officer should," answered the man.

"That is some of it," Gretchen returned. "If it were only me, I might not be as upset when I hear you have involved Hans." She tried to consider how to explain. "With children, you do not even want them involved, they are so much more in need of tenderness and care. You would go through the worst torture the Gestapo can produce to spare them. And yet, you know if you send them away, like I know some British parents did, sending their kids up to Scotland to avoid bombings, you worry so often when they are gone, you would not be able to do your job."

"That must cause quite a problem," the colonel admitted, trying to understand.

"You are right I guess my main fear is, with you using Hans and him seeing and having to ignore so much, are you as willing to protect them as I am?" She sighed, thinking about them. She'd only been gone a day and a half, and already she missed them terribly.

Hogan tried to comprehend, but had little time. As they drove up to the meeting place, Kinch asserted that "there are SS men starting to move into the city. I think they're getting ready."

Hogan looked at his watch. About three hours till midnight. "Okay, let's get ready to get into position, grab something to eat and we'll go at two in the morning." They synchronized their watches, and Schultz led them in prayer. The prayer made the Heroes snicker, as Schultz said in part "without your love and mercy we can do noth-ing. Noth-ing!". Good grief, he talks to God just like he does with us, pondered the colonel as they went their separate ways. Hogan's greatest operation had began.

Chapter Three

Robert Hogan eyed the sergeant of the guard scarfing down yet another sandwich. He joked that he ate when he was nervous, then added "of course, I eat even when I am not nervous." He wasn't as much nervous as uneasy. He would have compared it to Gideon launching an attack on thousands with only 300 troops. He sensed the Lord was with him, he just didn't know how in the world it would get done. After this, he pondered, I will show more faith and not pretend to want to stay away from my family.

Schultz found himself considering that - when Klink had asked him for his "philosophy of life"  
once - he shouldn't have listened when Klink said "aw shut up!" after he'd said "when it comes to trouble, when it rains, it pours." He'd had a pretty good opportunity to present the Gospel, and had planned to lead into how the only way to always be nice was to have Christ in one's heart,  
and Jesus would see one through troubles, like the physical Klink was hoping to fail to prevent his getting sent to the front. No, he told himself, Klink is too vain to accept he's a sinner, and needs Christ's forgiveness. Perhaps when he learns of the Jews, or when Hogan and his men break out,  
Klink will be ready.

Stop thinking so much, Hans scolded himself, you are going to get a headache. No second guessing, just follow the Lord.

The quick consumption of food brought Hogan's mind to Schultz's family. Knowing they were in friendly territory - in the cafe of one of the Danish Underground's organizers - he asked: "Schultz, when you spoke of your five children' eating so much - have you been harboring other Jews, too?" A quick "I know noth-ing" taught the man not to prod too deeply. Some things, he knew, would remain verboten, if only so fewer people could leak information.

Still, the colonel fretted over the lack of knowledge. If he'd known of the family's involvement in the Underground, perhaps more would have been done. Certainly, he wouldn't have been so cavalier as to attempt to send even a coded message through Schultz when his wife could be interrogated at the same time if caught. Now, he needed to know specifics to tell his men, just in case. If Schultz had seven or eight...wait, he told himself, how do I know two or three of those five aren't Jewish children they adopted to make it look like they had five?

The uncertainty gnawed at him. His caution in revealing anything of his own operation had been inbred by military training. This new sensation which had begun to build...what was it? The desire to protect innocents? Perhaps the mere realization there were innocents, civilians being treated as the enemy? The question of whether those who supported him might also support the extinction of Jews...boy, what a minefield of emotions that would be for him. He soundly rebuked the thought, forbidding it to ever enter his mind again. Even if they didn't know the precise nature, he told himself, his Underground helpers would understand a problem existed, and would not support such wickedness.

The head POW's mind labored constantly, and once again his wit aided him, as he hit upon a partial solution. Hogan appraised his own team, and noted how rarely Kinch and Baker were ever both needed on one mission. While one was needed when the other was away from camp, their talents were almost redundant, and most operations utilized one or the other, but not both. Perhaps that would ease my mind, deemed Hogan.

He glanced at his watch; it read 10:38. "Hey, Schultz, tell your wife I'll lend her some expertise; either Kinch or Baker can go into whatever area she needs if I don't need them, you can always just report them here, and we say they're just escaped prisoners if they get caught."

"Please, Colonel Hogan, you could get me in a lot of trouble..."

Hogan held out a hand. "Come on, Schultz, it won't be for that long. Okay, maybe the infirmary, we can say they're real contagious so they need quarantined. Who's going to notice?" The fellow pondered the notion, and finally agreed. This cheered Hogan a little; at least now,  
some extra phony documents or quality hiding places and tunnels could make a little difference in the protecting of those innocents.

Gretchen entered and teased her husband, glancing briefly at Hogan and hoping the man had begun to learn something. Hans told her of Hogan's offer, which she appreciated. Maybe I've been judging him too harshly, she considered as she told Schultz "we need to get to work, you do not need to replace the Thousand Year Reich' with the Thousand Bite Snack.'" The couple quickly departed, and Hogan left to join his crew of Heroes.

After what they discussed early that afternoon, the "all-star team" chose to assemble in varied places and assist those least able to leave on their own. Sadly, with so little time, they'd been able to get very few elderly or infirm people moved. However, there were a number of families and others who would require their help. Most received help from the common Danish citizen, but clearly the entire populace would not be so fortunate, and moving six thousand plus would require extra help. The Schultzes in a fleet of several ships, and Esther and Henri in several more, would co-ordinate many of those with children, but Hogan and his men would take on some.

Kinch, because Hogan pretended to be in the navy, couldn't be with the other men. He would monitor events in Denmark itself, and maintain contact via walkie-talkies to notify the Danish of Gestapo activity. He also owned the task of calling Klink and acting as a German who was "phoning for Schultz" and reporting the fellow's progress; Hogan decided to let him say two prisoners had been recaptured, to prevent Klink from calling in anyone else.

Hogan's first act was to drive a truck to the Copenhagen Gestapo headquarters, greatly annoying them as they sent a large number of SS men out to deserted Jewish homes. Hogan sat in the passenger's seat, handing the head Gestapo man, a Captain Strunk, a number of papers at a checkpoint. "Herr Captain, a pleasure to see you. Is there a problem, I see a lot men going out."

Captain Strunk knew orders were to keep the "final solution" as quiet as possible. "Nothing more than routine drills," he explained.

Hogan avoided sneering at the man, simply stating that "my assistants and I have orders from Berlin to investigate the ports and to plant more mines." The captain began looking at the authentic-looking papers, positing that this could be a means to ensure no Jews escaped, an implication Hogan presumed would occur and aid them. "I imagine they feel the British, with their shocking victories in a few battles, might try to send ships to aid the Soviets."

Strunk handed the papers back to Hogan. He said with a hint of a wink "yes, Herr Admiral,  
perhaps. It is an honor to see you, thank you for reporting promptly to the area."

"I love to give the Gestapo things," came the smart-aleck reply. Like bombs, agents we make out to be working for the Allies, the list goes on, thought the man. "We will be going around the countryside at times early in the morning to check for deserting seamen," came the comment, with Strunk okaying the move and planning to notify those in the field to not mind German naval presence. He will be friendly toward my men's activities, the captain pondered. Who knows, he may even be sent from Berlin to assist us. The car drove through to the harbor, and Hogan and his men unloaded three Jews in the docks.

Impulsively, Hogan chose to split the group for the time being, traveling with LeBeau while Newkirk and Carter took a somewhat large truck. Driving a car, Hogan and LeBeau arrived at a meat packing plant, there they'd learned a large truck could be procured. A meat truck won't look too odd going to a farm, Hogan observed as they traveled to the barn. They would make a couple more stops, as the clock registered several minutes past midnight.

A baby crying in the back nearly made Hogan's skin crawl. He'd never pondered before how much trouble difficulty helping kids would be. He wanted desperately to find something to keep that child quiet. However, he also didn't want his own mind to be distracted. Already, he was gaining insight into was Gretchen spoke of, always operating "on a wing and a prayer." He muttered lowly "we need to get that kid quiet."

"Did we bring any clean diapers," LeBeau asked.

Hogan had forgotten to consider those...goodness, he suddenly thought, if you hide a baby,  
how in the world do you keep the goons from going through your trash and finding dirty diaper? They must have other little ones venture out and put them in other peoples' trash or something,  
he mused aloud.

"That sounds like one thing Schultz's kids are probably good at," the Frenchman concurred. As they picked up several other Jews, he reflected upon what must be the plight of Jews in his own country. The times he'd been back in Paris, he'd barely had time to notice much, except when they were there for a week trying to free an agent. Then, he discovered that nearly half of his former neighborhood was deserted, some strangers occupied other portions. He'd presumed that the Jews simply fled the area. Now, thoughts of his countrymen made him tremble. What if he hadn't been captured after being shot down over Africa early in 1941? Would he be alive now,  
or in some filthy concentration camp? The possibilities made him wish to defeat the Germans even more. He hoped Gretchen and the others helping Jews understood how their own operation was perhaps even more important than theirs, for they might have to hold out for eight or ten more years if it weren't for Hogan. Now, he hoped, the war could be ended in the next two or three years.

After their last pickup, Hogan pulled the truck to the side of the road. LeBeau stood by as a lookout as Hogan entered the back of the vehicle, the door closing behind him as he viewed the compartment filled to the rafters with trembling humans, sleepy and whiny children, and a still sobbing baby. Hogan took a moment to adjust his eyes to the darkness as he said "don't worry,  
we're gonna get you out." The truck began moving again, and Hogan sensed that LeBeau must have seen an SS agent. Actually, the Frenchman merely thought he did, but wasn't willing to take any chances. They sure have to be more cautious than us, the POW pondered.

"You are all Allied prisoners," spoke an elderly Jewish fellow as Hogan pulled out a handkerchief, and tried to modify it into a diaper. It wasn't quite big enough.

"Some of us, yeah," Hogan asserted.

A child, still in awe over the events of the last few days, wondered "do lots of Allied prisoners wear German uniforms?"

Before Hogan could answer, the child's mother explained "no, that is just God's way of protecting us this time." Hogan nodded. Yeah, Schultz and Kinch are right, we're just vessels of His power. He wished he could remember that more often. His position of power, and his extreme ability to outwit the Germans, made that hard.

Someone handed Hogan a silk item that felt like a tie. "Pin that to the handkerchief with one of your medals." Good thing the tailors back at Stalag 13 give me plenty of medals, he considered, wondering if Gretchen ever did anything like that. The concoction worked, and after the baby was dried off, the new "diaper" was put on the baby, quieting him.

The truck halted, and Hogan noticed LeBeau opening the back door a little ways. Hogan leaped out before the sentry could notice anyone else and slammed the door. Saluting, he said "good evening, Sir; or, shall I say good morning." This roadblock, he could tell, was the last one before the harbor.

"Yes it is. Just a routine check to ensure there are no Jews..."

"You mean to tell me the Reich's efforts could be foiled? Do not give me that rubbish"  
stormed Hogan.

Hardly believing reports of so few Jew being picked up himself, he acted quite apologetic. "I am sorry, Herr Admiral, I just..."

Pointing a finger in the young man's chest, Hogan sputtered "listen, it's lucky for you I am in a hurry and cannot report this to your superior!" He shoved papers in the enlisted man's face. "As you can see, Berlin has assigned us to mine the harbor and ensure British transports do not get through to the Russians in Leningrad! Do you want to be held responsible for letting the supplies get through that prevent our valiant soldiers from winning in Leningrad, after their incredibly long siege?" He snatched the papers away, and the nervous sentry let the truck pass. Hogan and his men were soon unloading Jews onto a fishing boat.

"He'll be shaking in his boots all night," the Frenchman commented.

Hogan nodded, hoping that road would be safe for their trucks throughout the night. They would get hundreds of Jews out from just that one pier tonight, if all went according to plan. As they trucked Jews to the various fishing boats, rowboats, and so on, the Heroes and Schultzes grew astonished at the rapidity with which events unfolded. Hogan, especially, felt amazement,  
recognizing that, as incredible as the Hammelburg Underground was, it was nothing compared to the actions of the Danish people. Some of them had quickly grown into great and courageous workers in just a couple days.

Finally, before dawn, the Heroes sent some of the smaller boats toward Sweden. The children which Gretchen brought to be "adopted by Germans in the north" were loaded onto the Schultzes rented trawler, and they set sail, with the Heroes' boat beside them, the biggest and last ships to sail from that harbor during this leg of the journey. Henri and Esther worked independently at different ports. Hogan learned through radio reports that numerous Jews had already arrived in Sweden. Over seven thousand, with perhaps six thousand to be launched at one time, the head POW mused. The words of Winston Churchill echoed through his mind. "Never before, in the history of man, have so many owed so much to so few." And in such little time, the American would have added.

Hogan glanced at his watch as they slowly eased out of port. The vast majority, especially the ones with families, had been evacuated quickly because the element of surprise was there. If we're lucky, he pondered, the Gestapo is still blundering about, wondering where all of those people could have gone.

Newkirk stood on the back of the Heroes' boat with binoculars, watching the waves in the distance. Suddenly, he noticed a small boat motoring out to them. It appeared to be carrying Gestapo agents. "Gestapo on the back o' the barge," he hollered, sounding about as un-naval as he could. "Or, whatever that part's called."

The salty spray blowing in Hogan's face, he jogged toward the back of the ferry, past Carter and his fake mines, which he was tossing overboard. Using a megaphone, he commanded the Gestapo ship "come no closer! We are laying mines and you risk being blown up!"

The motor slowed on the Gestapo boat. "We just want to check your ships for Jews, Captain Strunk's orders!" Also through the megaphone, the lieutenant hollered "show us where the mines are."

"You'll know when you hit one," shouted the colonel, lambasting the Gestapo for "hindering the war effort." They were about halfway across the straits. The Gestapo trailed a little, nervous about the mines.

Hogan picked up his binoculars and glared at the Gestapo, feeling a little like John Paul Jones. When the Gestapo officers utilized their radio, Hogan assumed they were calling headquarters. A loud voice burst forth from one of the men. "Captain Strunk says there must be a search before you go into Swedish waters. If we cannot search you, order the other boat to stop, I do not see them deploying mines."

He has a point, Hogan thought as he looked over with his binoculars. He instantly spotted a toddler who had wandered above deck on the Schultz boat. Eyeing a baffled look on Schultz's face as he began to chase after the child, he instantly wished he'd placed one of his men on board that boat. He hollered "Schultz! Kid, get away!" just before one of the Gestapo men raised his gun and pointed it at the Schultz's ship. Unfortunately, as a shot rang out, the child began running, and slipped off the side of the ship into the water.

Newkirk hollered "you fool, can't you see he is a German" as Hogan, noticing he was closest,  
rushed to the side of his boat and dove into the water saying "cover me" to his men.

As Hogan swam toward the child, the Gestapo's motorboat sped up, also racing toward the kid. Newkirk quickly shot one of the lieutenants in the chest, causing him to fall out of the boat. The other Gestapo officer struggled, not knowing whether to go for his comrade or the child,  
whom he expected to be a stowaway Jew. Newkirk ordered a fisherman to steer their boat "toward that side," pointing, while instructing Carter to watch the back and fire at the Gestapo. Newkirk ran toward the side, with the intent of trying to jump into the boat and wrest control away from the Gestapo agent. One of the fishermen accompanied him. Sure wish I could swim,  
Carter thought as he peered through binoculars. I think I'll get the colonel to let me sneak into town and take swimming lessons when we get back.

Hogan reached the child, holding the boy up as the toddler hacked and gasped for air. Arms and legs still flailing, he wound up preventing Hogan from staying atop sufficiently, and so the colonel grabbed a deep breath and dove underwater, holding the child up as he neared the fishing boat. Hearing the motorboat approach, the colonel anxiously tried to find the side of the trawler.

Gretchen pulled the child from the water and hurried down toward the lower deck, guiding Hans along as well. Hogan came up and gasped for air, then noticed the slowing motorboat with the sole remaining Gestapo officer pointing a gun at the Schultzes. "Get his gun," he sputtered,  
pushing off the Schultz's trawler and swimming toward the Gestapo, kicking water violently to try and distract the German.

Newkirk and LeBeau leaped into the Gestapo's boat as the gun discharged, shooting a hole int he mast of the Schultz's trawler as the couple hastily retreated with the boy to the lower deck. A couple fishermen from the Schultz's boat joined Hogan and his men in the water near the motor boat, which was still slowly moving. Newkirk managed to stop the motor, but the combination of tussling people soon capsized the tiny motorboat, and soon Newkirk and the others had plunged into the water.

Carter glanced away from the injured Gestapo man, desperately swimming toward them, and grinned. I'm glad I'm not in the Navy, he thought, if they do this all the time.

Newkirk swam out from under the motorboat as Hogan motioned the Schultz's boat to keep on going. His own trawler pulled up alongside them, and the group was lent a hand into the vessel. "Tie that man up, we'll get him to England from Sweden," Hogan ordered while panting. He'd never imagined fighting the Gestapo could be so harrowing, but then again, he'd never imagined he'd be fighting them in the water. Now that it was over, he felt the sheer exhilaration he'd experienced after winning a dogfights with German airplanes.

As they docked in Sweden, the hundreds of Jews who'd arrived via their ferries cheered mightily, the soaking wet colonel eyeing them as they departed his ship. Newkirk walked up beside him and said "a fittin' end to your naval career, eh?"

Hogan snickered. They would transport a number of other groups of Jews the next night, but he knew once Carter devised a small explosive to blow up the boat the Gestapo used, and he reported that "a ship with Gestapo on it hit a mine, leaving no survivors," Captain Strunk would likely keep his men away from that area.

The ships ready to depart for Denmark to grab another, smaller load of Jews, Hogan stood on his deck near the Schultz's barge, gazing at the lovely countryside. Suddenly, the Schultzes appeared on their ferry. He called out to them, stood at attention, and saluted. Both returned his reverence, the brisk Scandinavian wind whipping around the all-stars. Newkirk grinned as he looked up from his post on the vessel, considering that the pose made Hogan look like the great British sea hero, Lord Nelson.

The next morning, the Heroes and Schultzes departed, leaving Esther to secure the escape of any others who may need assistance for the next couple days. All agreed the Jews there were in very good hands, considering the tenacity of the Danish people.

At the inn, Kinch reported to Hogan. "I just called for Schultz again, I got him up to three captured, with hot pursuit of one." The sergeant grinned and remarked that "Klink's biggest concern now is how much Schultz is paying me to help him."

"Okay, great," the colonel remarked, "I'm going with Schultz to record a few adoptions that Gretchen got done, LeBeau's with Henri checking on the Jews here, though I think all of them have been sent away long before." To Kinch, he ordered "take Newkirk and Carter with you,  
Gretchen, you can go, too. Get your hospital work done. We'll rendezvous at one o'clock and leave. Kinch, I hope you don't mind being called the ringleader of this escape."

"Why not, I've never been in the cooler before. I can take it easy," the fellow declared a little sadly, enjoying the activity in which he engaged..

"No, you won't." He turned to Gretchen and spoke lowly. "We'll make sure he gets a good week in solitary, and we've got a tunnel there so he can leave and we can pick up his food. He's on loan to you for whatever you need."

Gretchen felt more excited than she could remember any of her kids being over presents from "Kris Kringle." She beamed as she pondered the shoring up with which the expert spy could supply her work. She remarked excitedly that "your Sergeant Kinchloe will be just about my first contact with any great experience. Thank you." They split up to run their errands.

Dressed as a nurse, Gretchen joined "doctors" Carter and Newkirk in the main hospital in Kiel,  
Germany. She felt quite pleased as they wheeled Kinch, covered by a blanket, into the elevator and rode to the floor where medical records were stored. Once in the room, Kinch got off the bed and took the phony medical records, complete with discharge, out from inside his shirt. The black man told Mrs. Schultz "your cousin just got discharged with a clean bill of health."

"Thank you, Doctor Kinch," came the wry comment. Suddenly, she thought of something she should know. "By the way, what did she have?"

"I gave her pneumonia" brought giggles from the entire group as Kinch got back under the blanket and the "doctors" wheeled him out, with Gretchen following.

Hogan and Schultz pulled up to the rendezvous point with a large truck. Only Carter and Newkirk among the prisoners were not in civilian clothing. Hogan considered that Denmark might be a nice place to visit someday after the war; the scenery across the water had been breathtaking - almost in more ways than one. He hoped he didn't remember Europe only for the hard times.

Suddenly, Henri came running up to them. "Guys," he gasped, "they've taken LeBeau!"

"What? Where," shouted the colonel.

"Gestapo headquarters here in Kiel; someone said they saw him with the Jews the evening they all vanished, they think he might have been helping them!" Good think he'd back in civilian clothes, thought the leader of the Heroes.

Quickly, Hogan ordered "Schultz, Carter, Newkirk, come with me. Kinch, if you don't hear from us in one hour, call Baker, tell him he might have to close up shop and tell him to get Schultz's kids out of Germany." It was an attempt to show the woman he understood her true fears, for he knew they could be targeted if LeBeau spilled anything. Hearing the order comforted Gretchen a little. As he ordered Schultz to drive there, he also instructed Newkirk and Carter to leave on their hospital gear.

LeBeau stood chained to a wall, held up by his thumbs. A gruff Gestapo agent asked angrily "where did all those Jews go?"

"I swear, I do not know what you are talking about," the Frenchman exclaimed, uncertain of which he feared more - being forced to talk and to possibly reveal things about their mission, or being discovered to be a Jew and sent to a concentration camp. Not being in a prison camp, he was no longer protected by the Geneva Convention, so they could perform all kinds of atrocities on him.

Quickly, Hogan and Schultz broke into the Gestapo office. Should I pretend to know these people or not, LeBeau wondered as Schultz pointed a rifle at LeBeau. "Halt!" he exclaimed.

"He's pretty much stopped already, don't you think," inquired Hogan.

"What is the meaning of this," came the incensed Gestapo agent.

Schultz explained that "this is my final prisoner, I have been chasing him for days, on orders of Kommandant Klink of Stalag 13!"

"Yes, well," came the captain as Carter and Newkirk jogged in sporting hospital gear, "we have already captured him, somebody saw him walking around helping Jews," sneered the agent.

"In those clothes," Hogan wondered as Carter and Newkirk began eyeing the Gestapo man with great interest, their looks becoming graver as the conversation progressed.

"No, in a German naval uniform." When LeBeau asked how he could have gotten his hands on a German uniform, Hogan suggested that the Gestapo captain call Stalag 13, which he did.

"Hello, Stalag 13! Kiel Gestapo. Did you have a..." He looked at Schultz, who gave the prisoner's name. "...Louis LeBeau escape from your camp several days ago? Mm-hmmm. Mm-hmmm. Yah, he is here, I will put him on." He handed the phone to Schultz.

Proudly, Schultz exclaimed "Herr Kommandant, the other prisoners are in the truck, I now have the final one. Yawohl, I tracked him all the way here, he was spotted in Eastern Germany the day before, near Kiel yesterday, and now he is here. Yawohl." He hung up the phone. "Kommandant Klink says bring him back right away!"

"Well...there are still over six thousand Jews missing," exclaimed the captain, "I intend to investigate..." The agent felt interrupted by four probing eyes. Turning to Carter and Newkirk,  
he stormed "what! You were not with them, who let you in?"

Newkirk smacked his lips thrice as both pulled out their stethoscopes and began listening to different portions of the man's chest. Carter felt the man's pulse as he glared at them.

The Englishman spoke. "Do you think it might be, Doctor von Carl?"

Carter nodded gravely as he shone a small flashlight in the man's eyes, with Newkirk putting a hand on the agent's shoulder, implying he must remain in his chair. "Yes, Doctor von Nuisance. It is a good thing we responded so quickly to his superiors' concerns about him. We had better make sure he stays seated to tell him."

"Might be what," came the bellowing voice. Remaining seated, he relented to a further examination, and Carter and Newkirk each poked and prodded him, Hogan covertly getting LeBeau down from the wall as Schultz felt amazement and a resigned sadness at the agent's seeming willingness to let those with apparent authority do anything to him. "I am telling you, I feel fine...why did you want me to remain seated?" came the first hint of concern.

Carter remarked that "you may feel fine, but you are not fine, I can tell." Pinching the fellow where he could not see, Carter asked "does it hurt when I press here?"

"Ow, yes, it feels like someone is pinching me!" Carter took his stethoscope out of his ears and hung it around his neck, sighing heavily.

The Englishman motioned Strunk to remain seated. "That is the worst sign. Doctor von Carl is on the board of directors of the University of Berlin Medical School with me, and is the leading specialist in the country on your condition," remarked Newkirk. "He has world renown."

Greatly flustered, the captain exclaimed "in what condition, I am not..."

"In bifurcation of the pelvic region," came the gloomy sounding forecast from Carter. "Oh, so young, too." Carter emphasized that "it is a good thing we responded quickly. The bifurcation is extreme You are a very sick man."

Newkirk added that "if you retire now, and go into a rest home, you may be spared a worse fate."

The notion still struck him as quite odd, but he had felt a pinch, and the looks had grown increasingly worried as they listened to his chest. "But, what can...I have never felt sick...are you sure," the Gestapo agent spluttered, beginning to panic over this most unusual diagnosis. He wished it were something he could understand. "It...it cannot be that bad!...Can it?"

The American nodded very slowly, and spoke almost tearily. Putting his hand on the man's shoulder, he said "my good man, it is already too late, you are already hopelessly bipedal." He might lose his concentration on easy stuff at times, thought Hogan, but boy, is he great at complex acting. Schultz almost felt sorry for the captain.

The Gestapo man felt shock at the sudden diagnosis. Too late? Hopeless? He couldn't believe it. And yet, if these doctors, who said they were experts from such a prestigious university, had told him so, he knew it must be true. "Yes, well..." he began, gulping as if he would not be swallowing for quite a while. Yes, perhaps he should at least slow down, and he could use several months off. He would drop the matter, and turn the rest over to his assistants. Then, he would see if his condition improved after several months at a rest camp. He ordered the prisoner released to Schultz, then said "Herr Doctors...danke. I never thought I could...nobody in my family has ever been bipedal." He couldn't imagine what the diagnosis meant, but he had never heard of it, and from their grave looks, he knew it was serious. The nature didn't matter;  
perhaps when he came out of his funk over it he could consider finding out more and trying to find a cure, but for now, even these experts had said nothing could be done.

"It is a very rare condition," posited the Englishman. "Good luck in your retirement, I am sure your superiors will be thankful that you shredded all your files, so that no resistance fighter could take advantage of you when bifurcation leaves you in such a weakened condition." Strunk agreed that he would do just that. After they left, Newkirk muttered under his breath "and I hope you learn what we said the minute after you've quit and shredded all your papers."

As LeBeau thanked them and three Heroes got into the back, Schultz asked Hogan "how did they know what he had?"

As Schultz drove away, Hogan explained. "Well, you see, the pelvis is your lower abdomen;  
it's where your body branches off into two equal parts called the legs. That's what bifurcation is,  
a branching into parts." As Schultz began laughing, Hogan allowed himself to snicker. "Wait,  
you haven't heard the best part. Bipedal means he has two feet."

"Ha, ha! You mean he just said no one in his family ever had two feet before!" Hogan nodded, and Schultz guffawed the entire trip back to pick up the others. The colonel felt happy he could confide some of this in Schultz. He loved being able to share laughter with them.

Afterward

Late in the evening in a secluded part of Dusseldorf, Gretchen Schultz stood with her husband and the Heroes. The couple exchanged hugs and kisses, with Schultz promising to make it home more often. Gretchen walked over to Hogan, silently forcing herself to accept that Hogan's mission would continue to put her husband in danger. "I suppose...you will go back to your sabotage and rescuing of airmen now?"

The colonel nodded grimly. "I wish we could help you more than the little I've offered, but we do have orders from London all the time, and like you said, there aren't many coming your way anymore; they've all been taken."

"Yes." Trying to find some hope in the situation, she added that "occasionally someone does escape the camps, or one gets discovered somewhere and they have to go somewhere else. I am a courier in that situation, too, at times, and I assist those who hide Jews. Thank you for sending Kinch to help for a week." They reviewed the code for him or Baker to return - Hogan would call, they would give several code names, and Hogan or someone would say to her "I'm sorry,  
you have the wrong number." Hogan calling and ending with "thanks for calling" would tell them to flee. Gretchen almost couldn't believe she would finally have reliable help, after all these years of nervous tedium.

Kinch remarked that the work of the Danes would stand out as a great bright spot in history,  
and Gretchen turned to Hogan, thanking him for aiding their cause. The colonel admitted "you were the one who did a lot of the work. I should thank you for helping me grow." I just hope I have a chance to get to know the civilians a little better sometime, he pondered, in between all the missions from London.

After they gazed at each other for several seconds, Gretchen remarked "I should apologize for being so upset with you."

"I probably deserved a lot of it," came the candid admission. At least for not knowing of the problem beforehand, if nothing else, he considered.

Gretchen smiled. "No, colonel, you have a good heart. You are not like those who truly want to know nothing, like my husband pretends to be. You would have helped if you could and if you knew how, you proved that to me."

The colonel breathed deeply, still thinking of the many who were suffering under Nazi tyranny. He supposed shortening the war was the only thing he could do, and that limitation greatly frustrated him. To her, he offered "anytime you or your kids need to get out, or you need help with someone else, you know where to reach us. And, we'll set up a meeting point for you and your husband if we have to close down."

She thanked him and pecked him on the cheek, pausing to think. The vicious nature of wartime prevented her from ever feeling comfortable saying it to anyone in the German military,  
but she felt she could speak the words to Hogan every mother and wife wishes to utter. Somehow, perhaps because she knew he'd grown during this mission, perhaps because she felt it would make him think the next time he wanted to use Schultz, she knew he would understand.

"Take good care of my Hans," she instructed him. "He is a wonderful, Godly soul, and would do anything to avoid having to hurt people. God has placed him in the perfect position, and I implore you to ensure he can come back to his family when this is all over." With that, she and her husband embraced, and she departed.

Watching her car depart into the distance, LeBeau uttered "what a woman."

"You got a real winner there, Schultzie," Newkirk added, "even if she don't look like Lauren Bacall, I wouldn't mind havin' a dame like her around." The guard nodded and sniffled.

Carter hesitated, and speculated that "it'd be all right, as long as she didn't make me stand in the corner when I did something wrong."

As they prepared to board the truck, the guard shook a finger at the Heroes. "Now, don't expect me to help you with any of your monkey business," Schultz warned them. "I still will not take any chances, which means I want to know noth-ing."

"We wouldn't think of it," Hogan commented, the plea from Schultz's wife echoing in his mind. He wouldn't do anything to jeopardize the guard; he knew how vital Schultz was to their operation. He only hoped outside events wouldn't interfere with his plans to honor that request. "As far as we're concerned, it'll just be business as usual; we'll try to be more careful with you, if we can."

The Englishman added "except we don't want you chasing after any more girls, you don't need to pretend like that."

"Yeah," LeBeau chimed in , "we'll be just like you, what your wife's doing we won't even tell ourselves, so we can't tell be forced to tell anyone else."

As the others snickered, Schultz agreed that he wouldn't pretend to lust after younger women any more. Indeed, a couple of different times, when his wife had close to a dozen Jews living in their house and he'd kept his distance for their mutual protection, such feigning had been disastrous for him. Once, he'd wound up dating a spy, the other time he'd nearly been sent to the Russian front. He recognized that God had been teaching him it was wrong to even pretend to lust after other women, no matter how noble his intentions. The road to Hell, after all, was paved with good intentions.

Still, he wondered why the Heroes were so interested in making sure he didn't.

Hogan explained "it's simple, Schultz. There'll be so many more to go around for us." They laughed as they traveled back to Stalag 13. 


End file.
